Staffers at Odyssey 1 were told they could wear a team jersey this past Sunday, when the last playoff contests prior to the Super Bowl took place.

Presumably, management assumed everyone would show up in Seahawks togs, since Seattle was playing the San Francisco 49ers that day. But Wentz is a lifelong Broncos booster, and when he showed up rocking white, blue and orange in honor of Denver's tilt against the New England Patriots, he was told to go back to his place and change.

Wentz did indeed head home, but he didn't return -- and he learned the next day that he'd been fired.

The technical reason for the sacking was Wentz's decision not to come back to Odyssey 1 for his shift wearing approved duds. But employment law would have allowed him to be handed his head for his initial choice of shirt, too, since businesses have the right to determine appropriate outfits for workers -- and in Tacoma these days, Thomas's number 88 apparently doesn't qualify.

Inside the Wentz house.

Back at his abode, part of which resembles a virtual Broncos shrine, Wentz took his Odyssey termination in stride during his King 5 TV interview, expressing pleasure that now he won't have to worry about being scheduled to work on Super Bowl Sunday.

Would bosses in Denver make a similar move? Well, here's a personal anecdote from this past Sunday. Prior to the Broncos-New England game, my wife and I went to our neighborhood King Soopers to stock up on supplies. Our checker, a longtime staffer at the store, is an East Coast resident with a distinctive park-the-car-in-the-yard accent -- and unlike her fellow employees, who were all decked out in Broncos gear, she proudly wore a Patriots jersey. But while my wife and I joked with her about her garb, the guy behind us, wearing a Broncos cap, glared angrily at the checker throughout the conversation.

Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.